Paging Dr. Frist: Severe Health Care Crisis Threatens Lives of Your Constituents - Please Help the Schiavos of Tennessee

Pasted below is an open letter from Mary Sue Bennett of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Ms. Bennett is one of many Tennesseans who will die if Governor Bredesen succeeds in his goal of balancing the budget by cutting hundreds of thousands of sick, elderly and disabled from the state's health care rolls.

According to Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy group, "What Bredesen is proposing is by far the largest state cutback in public health coverage in the history of the country. Many people will die. They will die silently and quietly outside of public view, but they will die."

Other states have received federal funds to bail them out of crises this severe. Yet, the Governor of Tennessee refuses even to ask for federal assistance. The democratic Governor says the political climate is such that it is futile to ask. Governor Bredesen refuses to ask even though the state has a certain senator in Washington who wields an inordinate amount of power.

The Senate Majority Leader says he is first and foremost a doctor.

The Governor won't ask, so I am asking, and Mary Sue Bennett is asking. Dr. Frist, your state is in the throes of a severe health care crisis. Tennesseans are going to die without your help.

The "Terry Schiavos of Tennessee" desperately need your help. Dr. Frist, please remember the people who sent you to Washington. Dr. Frist, you can save lives, if only you will.


A plea for life-saving health care, from
Mary Sue Bennett of Murfreesboro, Tennessee:

I've been praying a lot and need to say what's on my heart. I have written to all our state legislators but I also want the people of Tennessee to know what will happen to some of us who depend on TennCare for our very lives. I am not a well-educated person but I have feelings, concerns and a mountain of fears right now.

In a way, we TennCare enrollees are the Terry Schiavos of Tennessee. The only difference between us and her is that she didn't know what was taking place. We, however, will be fully conscious when our "life supports" are cut off and we can't get our medicines, oxygen, ventilators, cancer treatments, cardiology treatments, insulin shots and other things needed to keep us alive. Another difference between us and Terry Shiavo, is that our Senator Bill Frist, who is a doctor, went to bat for Terry Shiavo, but we haven't heard a peep from him about helping avoid the catastrophe about to befall hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans.

I am only one of the 323,000 people to be cut, but without TennCare I will die. There is no way around it. I require tracheotomy supplies to prevent staph infections, which I will have to battle the rest of my life. A staph infection it is not pleasant, to put it mildly. A suction catheter is put down the trachea tube to suck out the phlegm. It hurts and you have to fight for breath. I also use a ventilator at night; otherwise my brain cells will die from lack of oxygen. I take 22 prescriptions for various health problems, including diabetes, osteoporosis, heart arrhythmia, depression, panic attacks, etc. Since I have no income, I cannot pay for these things. For the "lucky" ones who don't lose their TennCare, prescriptions will be limited to four or five a month. Tell me, how do you choose?

This may not affect a lot of people in Tennessee, who have access to health care. They may even take it for granted, but it can be all gone in a heartbeat. If not for the grace of God, some of you could be sitting right where we are now: sick, scared, and fighting for our lives. We are uninsurable and cannot get other health insurance. Even if we become bankrupt, it's unlikely we can qualify for Medicaid.

I'm sure as a lawmaker it is hard to make these decisions and I do pray for them everyday. But if they can find the money for dog parks, baseball parks, football arenas and so forth, why can't they find the funds to save human lives? People are locked up for being cruel to animals but in this case it seems that humans are not as valuable as dogs. There should be a law preventing cruel treatment against humans too.

Mary Sue Bennett
Thistle Rock Court
Murfreesboro, TN

The rest of Mary Sue Bennett's letter is here.

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Office of Senator Bill Frist, Washington, DC
202-224-3344
202-228-1264 (fax)
Email available only on website:
http://frist.senate.gov/
Nashville, TN
615-352-9411
615-352-9985 (fax))

Governor Bredesen's Office
615.741.2001
Fax: 615.532.9711
Email: phil.bredesen@state.tn.us